AGNI as a BURN
AGNI was born and raised out of the love and creativity of an ever-expanding community.
It has always combined the things we like best in life – deep connection, joyful relating, creative expression, wisdom culture, good food and the good groove – in service of our healing and growth. It’s an expression of the ways that yoga, music, intimate love and transformative festivals from Burning Man to Luminate have shaped our lives, and we’ve always sought to share whatever inspiration we could from them.
AMARA VALLEY in many ways came out of the force of spirit we developed together at Agni. We could not have navigated these past two and a half years without all the practical, personal and celebratory learnings we had from gathering in this way every year! And all of you have helped us to lift up this project, in all sorts of ways, since before the beginning.
Despite the greater physical separation between us in recent times, we have been heartened to keep finding ways of deepening all the connections we’ve made over these years. We feel that they’re manifesting here in beautiful and extraordinary ways, and we want to give thanks this summer.
We also feel a call for the spirit of THE BURN, after this period without the annual maha-celebrations (whether in Nowhere, Black Rock or anywhere else it blossomed into our lives) that marked our calendars and gave us moments of ecstatic release each year. And we’ve been reflecting a lot on the 10 Principles, and how we can find ways to embody and align with them through Amara’s offerings and our daily life.
So we’d like to propose that Agni is a gift this year.
It always has and always will be an event created through communal effort, self-expression and play! And we would like to open this space, celebrating Sant Joan and midsummer, to whatever we want to offer and receive. We see it as the most Inclusive and “full spectrum” way of gathering this time.
If you have questions, see below for more info about how we envisage this best coming together. And if you want to come, fill out the forms via the links below and let us know how you’d like to collaborate in the event.
We look forward to sharing this time with you all!
AGNI AS A GIFT
Amara is gifting the land for holding this gathering, and the community here will be sharing our talents, knowledge, joy, and ideas. You are invited to do the same! Whether workshops, performances, games, silliness, special treats, art…
What this means in practice is there is no price to join this year – although places will be limited, we will share food costs, and if you’d like accommodation in the house Amara will ask for a contribution for that (more info on this below). And it will be what we make of it – check out the Participation form below to submit your ideas for something you’d like to offer during the gathering!
COMMUNITY, INCLUSION & COOPERATION
This gathering will be made by and for everyone who comes. Its depth and meaning will be enhanced by finding intelligent and effective ways of cooperating to make the whole thing happen.
We will create spreadsheets to organise the different kinds of activities and tasks that will be necessary for us to come together this way – such as helping set things up, preparing food, cleaning up, or curating experiences. What you join will be up to you! Of course, that also means that if no one chooses to clean the bathroom, or cook a meal, we’ll all have to deal with that 😉 . We trust that between us all we can enjoyably and effectively make the whole experience good for everyone.
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW OPEN!
Keep an eye out for announcements on Instagram and Facebook @agnispiritfestival – places are limited, and registrations will be first come first served!
KEEP READING BEFORE YOU FIND THE REGISTRATION LINK!
SELF-EXPRESSION & PARTICIPATION
This is the foundation of so much of what has inspired us most at Agni and the Burning events over the years. This is a space to share culture with each other, to surprise and enliven, share wisdom and fresh ideas, to feel the freedom in our own skin. Performance, play, costumes, theatrics, music – let your imagination run wild, and enjoy Agni as a chance to share something with us in a way you never have before.
If you want to offer a session, performance or initiative at Agni this year, you will find the Participation form when you complete your REGISTRATION (Keep Reading…)
Share your practice! Yoga, dance, and movement practices to energize our bodies
Share your knowledge! Talks and workshops on that which is most important for our insight and wellbeing
Share your love! Performances, ceremonies and healing arts to rekindle our spirit
NOURISHING OURSELVES
Coming together around delicious food is one of the pillars of the Amara project and has always been a great part of Agni. Between us all we will make kitchen teams each day, and if you are interested in taking more of a lead on the creation of one of the meals, please get in touch ASAP so we can collaborate in the menu creation and food orders.
Our aim will be that we share communal food costs – collectively, we have years of experience in cooking good food economically at scale, and we’re confident this can be very affordable for everyone involved. We also see it as preferable to everyone bringing their own food, and buying small quantities piece-meal with all the extra packaging waste that entails. At Amara we endeavour to buy goods from local producers wherever possible. If you grow food and would like to bring it, we will be very happy to include that! And of course if you would like to bring special ingredients or treats to share, apart from the main menu ingredients, the yumminess can only increase…
Also to note: Agni will remain alcohol- and meat-free, and we ask that you don’t bring any with you.
SELF-RELIANCE & STAYING AT AMARA
Gifting the space for the event extends to self-reliant accommodation – if you have a tent or van, or perhaps are happy just hanging your hammock somewhere and sleeping under the stars, we have ample space to host you on the Amara Valley land, and this is included in your registration. If you’d like to stay in a room in the house though, Amara will ask for a contribution for the room, and there will be different types of accommodation available. This will help to make offering this event more sustainable for us as a project.
You can confirm your place, and see more about the available rates for rooms on the Registration Form when it opens on May 11th.
ZERO WASTE: LEAVE NO TRACE
We’ve endeavoured to minimise the amount of waste produced through all the Agni events, and we do the same at Amara. The shift to a “zero waste” policy in 2019 was a great step toward that, with every participant taking responsibility for their own material impact, and reducing it as much as possible. However there’s always been an inevitable amount of waste and material to recycle generated by the kitchen and production teams, to cater for the collective experience.
This year we want to put our resource use in a visible centre of the event. We’ll have one centralised Leave No Trace zone where we will be able to see clearly just how much waste we collectively produce, and make a record of how we use important resources like water and fuel. We propose this as an experiment to start setting benchmarks for the future, to eventually find our way to a truly zero-waste way of gathering.
NO COMMERCE
There will be no monetary exchanges at Agni this year – so there will be no artisan market, and though there will be spaces available for offering healing massage and therapies, they will also be gifted.
IMMEDIACY
Everything at Agni will happen in the present moment! Though a co-creative program of activities will form, we’ll also maintain space for spontaneous initiatives and unconference-style offerings.
LET’S BURN!
Thanks for reading all the way til the end!
It is very important that we are all aware of how Agni is going to take a different form this year. If you have doubts, we encourage you to read all the above information again before getting your Registration completed. Agni will be 100% participatory and co-creative this year and we need ALL of us to be on the same page!
And now…
Time to get registered! Click on the link below and get your spot for the midsummer event!
REGISTER HERE!
